Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the profound meaning of being 'poor in spirit' as a state of utter dependence on Christ, akin to a beggar who recognizes his complete lack of resources. He explains that true mourning arises from this awareness of spiritual poverty, leading to a cultivation of meekness, which is a learned response to God's authority. Beach draws parallels between the believer's journey and Adam's choice at the tree of knowledge, highlighting the importance of choosing Christ over self-reliance. He asserts that through union with Christ, believers can experience victory over sin and grow in maturity by learning to say no to their old nature and yes to the new life in Christ. Ultimately, the sermon calls for a deep reliance on God's grace to transform our hearts and minds, fostering a desire for righteousness and a rejection of sin.

Usages of the word poor. The one is a person who being so poor that he earns his bread by daily labors. But that's not the poor that Jesus referred to. This word poor in Matthew 5.3 is a word that implies greater poverty than such a state of earning our bread through daily labors. This poverty suggests a state where a person only obtains his bread by begging. Begging because there are absolutely positively no resources that he has available. So therefore he must beg, ask. And of course, in 2 Corinthians chapter 13, we just read 2 Corinthians chapter 13. Jesus manifested and Jesus depicted and Jesus exemplified such an incredible state of dependence, such an incredible state of being under authority as to blow our minds away. For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he lives by the power of God. The poor in spirit. Then we find the mourner. The mourning results. Listen closely. The mourning results. The true mourning that Jesus is speaking of results as we see that we ourselves, we ourselves are the beggar who upon desiring bread must beg for it, must seek for it, must find it wholly in Christ recognizing that within ourselves we have nothing. And such a combination of being poor in spirit or rather being aware of our poverty, being aware of our utter need to find in Christ our all in all. And then from that arises a mourning. From that arises a sense of mourning where we begin to cry out to God. But from that, from those two elements working in our life, meekness grows. Now listen. Meekness grows. Now, I've written down some things here that I feel will be helpful to us in understanding meekness and what it implies. The attitude of the soul towards another when the other is in a state of activity towards it. That's powerful. The attitude of the soul towards another when that other is in activity towards it. In other words, meekness is understood by what we do in relation to what is done to us. Now there we see the necessity for meekness to be cultivated through participating in the weakness of the crucified one. It is knowing the weakness of Christ which is not acting independent of what his father bid him to do, what his father enabled him to do. There's the weakness. It is a weakness that Adam failed to allow God to cultivate in his life. See, it is a weakness that Adam did not have which constituted, which made the way for Adam and Eve to be confronted as I have up here. See, they came to a crossroad. They came to a crisis. Genesis chapter 3. There was the setting of the serpent. There was a challenge of God's word. And there was a crisis. And rather than a cry to God which would have a conformity to the will of God. See, but in order for them to cry to God, there had to be a weakness that was developed. A weakness. See, God created Adam in perfect innocence, but he was untried. He was untried. He was perfect, yet not perfect. He was not imperfect in that there was sin in him, but he was imperfect in that he was untried. He was untried. And the purpose of God in creating Adam in such a state was that Adam could become, through the process of saying yes to God, yes to his way, and no to self, no to independence. And that's the same principle by which God is working in our life. So it is necessary for God to teach us the weakness of the crucified one. Because in the state of weakness, there is a harness that God puts upon us. It is a restraining power that comes upon us. It is Christ himself. And it is a weakness. It turns into an inability to react, but rather to respond in Christ. You see, it weakens our natural tendency and enables us to participate in Christ's response. Now from this weakness grows meekness. Meekness. Ah, that we would know of these diamond treasures. Diamond treasures. You see, these five steps or stages are part of life, part of the Christian pilgrimage. We will continually be subjected to a crossroad crisis situation, at which time we will either cry unto God and find in Christ provision. And through finding in Christ provision, there is a conformity into his image and into his likeness. So consequently, after crisis and cry, there's two things that resolve. And this is where I come in. I, me, the one that Christ died for. Me, the one who is commanded in Scripture to set my affections on things above. This is where I come in. Now Christ, Christ and I are one in spirit. He has joined himself to me. Listen now, I do not become Christ. I do not become God. I and God are not one in entity. I remain distinctly human. Christ remains distinctly divine. He is divine. I am human. But now, rather than the law of sin that works in me, I have a greater law that works in me now. And that is Christ, which is the law of life. So this is where I cry. And I go in one of two directions. Now, what did Adam do? Do you remember the trees that Adam had? Okay, he had the life. And he had what? The knowledge of good and evil. So, the crossroads, the crisis, and then the decision that Adam had to make. He either had to do it God's way. And by the way, for the believer, God's way is always Christ in me, the hope of glory. See, for the believer, God's way is the tree of life that has been planted in the depths of our spirit, who is Christ himself. That is always God's way. It is always God's way for us in all the crossroads and crises of our life to find ultimate direction, satisfaction, and sustenance from the tree of life, from Christ himself. You see? As opposed to finding it our way. Now, our way constitutes the knowledge of good and evil. Where we, independent from God, arbitrarily apart from life, Christ, his provision, his life, we decide based on our concept of good and evil, or what's good for us, what's bad for us, our judgment, what we feel would be the best thing to do. And we then function and become motivated by the resource of that knowledge. Now see, there's your tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Same tree that we're confronting today. Same crises that we are standing in front of today that our father and mother at the beginning stood in front of. Same crises. Now, here is a continued definition of meekness. The attitude of a disciple to the teacher when teaching. Of the son to the father when exercising his paternal authority. Of the servant to the master when giving him orders. Oh, I like that. It is that temper of the spirit in which we accept his dealing without disputing or resisting. It therefore becomes an in raw grace of the soul and is chiefly exercised toward God first and then toward others. Weakness. So, we see that at the crossroad, there is an in raw grace that God seeks to work in our life. And by the way, this is the process of maturity. This is the actual process of maturity. So, bringing this down right here. The inner graces. We have weakness, which is the crucified one. We have meekness, which is a posture of the soul. Now listen, it is a learned posture. The Bible says regarding Jesus, though he wore a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. This is something you as the recipient of the grace of God learn. You cannot learn it apart from grace. It is not something learned independent of God, but it is the product of grace. It is the product of God's life. I learned. Paul said, I have learned to become content in whatsoever state I find. That was Paul speaking. Wasn't he? Paul, I, me, Paul, me, I. I have learned because of his grace. But see, God is in the process of literally transforming us. Though we remain, listen, though we remain by nature sinful, yet through the union that we have with Christ. Oh, what a marvelous redemption. It's like, it's so glorious it's unspeakable. Though I remain what I am, yet I am redeemed. I am saved from what I am. Listen, the presence of sin, the torments of sin, you'll never be free from until that glorious day of redemption. When it's realized in its entirety. But nevertheless, this is the incredible revelation that was flooding the church in the late 1800's and the early 1900's. They were saying, my God, Jesus is not only the one who forgives me from my sin, but he delivers me from my sin. He himself becomes, what a paradox, he himself becomes the way of escape from what I am. So that what I am, me, the one Jesus died for, can actually express a whole new life principle. And in expressing the new life principle, which is Christ himself, I am completely free from the dominion and torments and tyranny of what is in me by natural disposition. And that is when the sin and self becomes inoperative and rendered powerless. It is by union with Christ. Now see, I have this union with Christ now. I am in Christ. I am in Christ. And listen now, through crossroads and crisis, this union that is mine positionally, becomes mine experientially. And that's where the maturity comes in. That's where I learn. See, as a babe in Christ, I have become a partaker, but I have not learned much of anything. And after a little while, I can surely discover that to be true. So what does God have to do? He takes the believer, who has become a recipient of the glorious grace of God, and has become incredibly changed because of the presence of Christ in him. The loosing of the gear of sin. The joy of salvation. Praise God, I'm saved. Praise God, I'm free. Hallelujah, I'm a new man. I've got joy unspeakable and full of glory. But God has to do a work in that person. Now that that person has discovered a new identity. Remember before, it was I knew nothing but sin and was lost in sin. Now as a Christian, I, because see, I am never dissolved. I am never annihilated. I never cease from being myself. Me, the one whom God uniquely created and loved from the foundations of the world. So now I have become a new creature in that the law of sin which impregnated my very being, which was the heartbeat of my very being. Now that law of sin and death has been cancelled and disannulled in Christ. It's power, it's dominatory effects upon me because the wages of sin is death and hell. But I've been free. Jesus freed me, thank God, hallelujah. I'm free. But now that I am free from the consequences and I am free from the very heartbeat of what I am. Now God, through giving to me a new life, a new heartbeat, a new righteousness, which is not my own righteousness but His. Now God enters into the next step and that's the step of teaching me, teaching me the process of learning. What is it? The process of learning to what? To abide, trust in, and literally find my life in the new, which is Christ in me, rather than the old, which is the principle of sin in me. And He does this through the power of the Holy Spirit, shedding abroad into our life the love of God. And as our hearts are filled with love divine, He teaches us to love righteousness, to love Christ, to love everything that has to do with Him. And to begin to abhor and hate and detest and despise everything that has to do with the corrupt desires of sin that lurk in us. In so much that our minds become renewed and that they are regularly saying no to sin, no to evil, no to the principle that lurks within me. No, that is not my identity anymore, that is not me anymore. Though it is my nature, yet I am not bound to that anymore. And I want, I want Jesus, I want Christ life. So I say no to what I am, and yes to what? Yes to that new life in me, Christ in you, the hope of glory. And every time, every time God brings me to a crossroad crisis and I say yes, no, then I am appropriating into my very experience, into my very nature, into my very mind, the life of Christ. Who then becomes in me righteousness and holiness. So I, by yielding to God, become holy, but yet it is His holiness in me. I become righteous, but it is His righteousness in me. It is what He is now flowing through me. I don't cease from being me, but everything good in me is coming from Him. And if anything bad expresses itself, it's surely coming from me. So I give Him all the credit for what I am, that is praiseworthy at all. And I take all the credit for what isn't. Perfect, perfect perspective. God is God in the heavens. Christ is God in me. And anything good in me is the direct and absolute result of Him. And anything bad in me, I take the credit for. So He, the glory of men, glory in who? In Himself? No, in the Lord. And if we do learn, see I, Phil, God is tutoring me, I am a student, I am learning. I have the capacity to learn. But see, the problem before Christ is I had the capacity to learn, but I couldn't. Because sin in me was greater than my desire to learn. In that if I wanted to do good, the evil in me overcame my desire to do good. Which meant it was no longer I, but the sin in me, it reigned, it was stronger than I was. But not so now. Now if it wasn't for Christ in me, sin would yet have captivity over me. But my victory, who can deliver me from this body of sin? Thanks be unto God through Christ Jesus my Lord. I am free in Christ. I am no longer a slave. Sin can no longer rise up and say, I will do this. Because in Christ I say, no you won't. I am in Christ. I will yield to Him. And by His life, not by me, but by His life, I find victory over that law of sin. Oh, blessed victory. And as I learn this process, then God is accomplishing His purpose of maturity. He is teaching me how to hate sin and love righteousness. Through what? Through the crisis that necessitates me. Save me Lord. Jesus, become for me the deliverance that I need at this moment. Because what I am wants to rise up. That all to be reckoned is dead. But it wants to rise up. So I say, no Jesus. I want You. I want to find in You. I want Your life. Rather than the deeds and the motions of sin, which I know Lord are cancelled in Your life. Not by my willpower, but by Your life. It is union with Christ that cancels power of sin. So the key priority in the believer's life is union with the life of the Son of God. And as we enjoy union in the Son, listen, we are learning. We are learning. I am learning. You are learning. You are learning because Christ is in you. Apart from Christ you couldn't learn. But in Christ you are learning. You are learning to say no to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which is the opposite of weakness, which is taking things into your own hands and by your own discretion, independent of depending upon God, you are choosing and you are therefore the one that is in control. You are saying no to that. And this is what the Lord so wanted from the very beginning. He wanted humankind, if I may say. He wanted them to say, yes, I love you and I want to know you because you have shown such kindness to me by dying, by loving me, by giving to me a salvation that freed me from my sins, canceled the penalty thereof. And not only that, but you have come to dwell within my very spirit, there to become for me the very person that I can find total freedom from everything that the world, the devil or I am, the life of the Son of God has become your life in position. And now through this glorious process of God training you to say no and to say yes to God because of the abundance of love that is coming from God and is affecting you and by virtue of that love, by virtue of that grace, yes, Lord, I don't want sin. See, God is teaching you, I don't want sin. And yes, I want Jesus. I want Jesus. And as God works that weakness in us, which is a willingness, a dearly willingness, yes, Lord, yes, Lord, there is the process of maturity. There is the process by which we grow in Christ. We become conformed to His image. We become less and less a part of the old by virtue of, listen, by virtue of learning to abhor it, learning to despise it. Thou has loved righteousness and hated iniquity. And it is the same desire the Holy Spirit wants to produce in us. Whereas I hate iniquity and love righteousness. And as this process continues in our life, the conformity continues and the weakness and the meekness is developed. Thereby we begin to live by Christ and we, as God said, don't touch the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Stay away from it. Stay away from it. Because God doesn't want people, Christians, to act independent of His Word and to find strength apart from Christ who is in me the hope of glory. But rather, everything that He is becomes my all in all. And then I grow. I am changed. And I learn to love the Lord my God with what? All my heart and all my mind and all my strength and all my soul so that every fiber of my being longs for God. Though I am yet sinful in natural disposition, God has taught me to say no to what I am and to say yes to what I am in Christ. Hallelujah. And there, beloved, is the glorious victory that's yours and mine as children of God redeemed by the blood and made a partaker of the Holy Ghost. May He help us to say yes. May He teach us to say yes. And may we take the posture of a meek person in relation to the Son, to the Father, when exercising His paternal authority of the servant to the Master when giving His orders. The ultimate fruit of meekness is weakness in Christ, which is no! No! Yes. Yes. Yes. Glory to God. God bless you all. Thanks for your love in Jesus. We appreciate you all. Amen. Yes. Yes. Absolutely.